What is Mercari?
Mercari is an e-commerce company founded in February 2013 and currently operating in Japan and the United States.
It allows buyers and sellers to easily buy and sell online on a website, or on an app using a smartphone.
I didn’t use Mercari Japan before, so I’m only going to talk about Mercari USA and how to sell on the App in the Greatest Country in the World = The United States of America.
Below are some statistics to show how popular the Mercari app is becoming, because of it’s ease of use and the trust it gets from buyers and sellers in the USA and around the World.
Mercari App Statistics
- Downloads: 45M + in the US
- Items: 150K new items listed everyday
- App Store: 4.8 * Average App Store app rating
- Google Play: 4.5 * Average Google Play app rating
The first step to start selling on Mercari is to download the App. It’s easy and free, and available on Google Play and the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
Step One: Install Mercari App
Google Play:
App Store:
Step 2: Start Selling Online
You can sell almost everything on Mercari, toys, electronics, clothes…If you don’t use something in your house, Mercari is the place where you can sell them. You can also become a full time seller if you know how and where to purchase valuable items for a cheap price and flip them online for a profit. (If you have any questions about how to start, leave me a comment below, I will help you based on my experience free of charge, I will answer any question).
After downloading the Mercari App on your phone, create your profile, list your items and start selling. It’s that simple.
Listing on Mercari App:
To list an item on Mercari App, you need to add:
- Photos of your item
- Title
- Description
- Tags
- Category
- Brand
- Condition
- Size
- Color
- Shipping From Location
- Type of Shipping
- Price
Now that you downloaded the app on your phone and started listing your items on Mercari, let’s talk about how to boost your sales, it’s not that hard, it’s about listing your items the right way by giving an honest description of the item you’re listing, pricing it right and communicating well with the buyers. Please don’t think of a buyer as a one time transaction but as a returning customer that will buy from you again. Most of my buyers follow me after the transactions are complete and return to my Mercari store to purchase more items just because I’m honest with them, I’m flexible with my prices and I communicate with potential buyers when they ask questions.
Check out some of my selling strategies that can help you boost your sales on the Mercari App.
How to Increase Sales on Mercari?
If you are new to the Mercari App or you are an existing seller but you’re items are not selling fast enough, use some of my selling strategies that allow me to make sales daily and receive 5 star ratings.
Photos:
I use a white background in all my photos. Some sellers disagree but it works well for me, because it helps potential customers focus on the item they are interested in not a background distracting their attention.
I also take the maximum number of photos allowed by the app ( 12 ) to cover all angles including front, back, sides, branding and anything special about the item.
Title:
All my titles are keyword focused. I think of a title as a small description that tell the customers what the item is.
The App limit the number of characters in titles, so it’s important to focus on the most important elements that describe your item and add brand, color, size…when you can.
Don’t hesitate to research your item in the app and check what titles other sellers are using, not to copy them but to learn more about your competition.
Tags:
Mercari App allows you to add 3 tags to your listing, make sure you add tags that best describe your item and allow it to be found in the search.
Category:
Make sure you choose the correct category for your listing. Selling a purse in electronics won’t work.
Brand:
It’s important to add the right brand of the item. Customers care about it and prices also depend on it.
Authenticity is also very important, it’s illegal to sell fake items on Mercari like everywhere else.
Size & Color:
Very imortant information that needs to be accurate. Customers are used to trying and checking items before making a purchase, so it’s important that you add the right size and color to help them make a good purchase decision.
Condition:
Unless items are new, condition can be tricky. To avoid bad feedback I always choose a condition that is less than the real condition of the item I’ m listing.
Most of the time my customers receive “New Without Tags” items (NWT) that I listed as “good condition”, or “excellent condition” items that I listed as “fair condition”. You don’t have to do that and you can list the item at it’s real condition, but my strategy focuses more on customer service so I try to surprise my customers all the time by giving good deal, and in return the give me 5 stars, they follow my store and buy from me again.
Remember that when items are used, two people can look at their conditions different ways. As a seller, I prefer to be generous to get repeated business from my customers.
Shipping:
Most of online seller on Ebay, Poshmark, Mercari…will tell you that free shipping is the way to go.
I personaly never offer free shipping because of my pricing strategy that I will explain below.
By not offering free shipping, I use a flexible easy to manage pricing strategy.
For example, if an item cost me $2 and i’m asking for $10, it will be easy for me to accept a $6 offer from a customer knowing that i made $4 profit. I can do that on my phone while I’m busy doing something else.
But if I offer free shipping, I will have to wait, go back to the listing, check cost of item and cost of shipping, compare the total to customer’s offer in order to calculate my profit, and probably reject because I’m losing money.
Don’t take my word on this one because most sellers and even giant companies offer free shipping, do your research Plz.
I charge customers shipping cost and they don’t seem to care. In my experience, customers care more about quality, honesty in describing items, customer service and of course competitive pricing. I don’t make any money from shipping cost, I charge the shipping cost of the Mercari App that my customers are familiar with.
Price:
When pricing an item, remember that potential customers have access to retail stores, Amazon, Ebay, Poshmark…and your competition on Mercari App.
With that said don’t list your item at a minimum price for 2 reasons:
1- Pricing your item a little higher (Not Too High) will allow you to make offers to likers (Likers = Mercari visitors who like an item). I usually offer a better price to anyone who likes any of my items right the way, before they move on and go check what my competition has to offer.
2- Your listing will be in the bottom of the search if the item is not purchased the same day. pricing it a little higher will allow you to go back and edit your listing by change your price to get your listing back at the top of the search using item’s promotion feature.
Make use you use the new feature that Mercari App offers, allowing you to decide a minimum price you are willing to accept. The App will then keep changing your price automatically until your item is sold or it is at your minimum price.
More:
Now that I covered how I list my items and decide my shipping options and prices, I want to talk about some more important factors that can help you sell on Mercari App or increase your sales.
Communication:
It’s important to answer your customer’s questions in a timely matter. Remember that people are usually browsing, but when they see something they like, they decide to buy it. Unless you answer potential customers quick enough, they can purchase that same item from an other seller who’s able to answer their questions and convince them to make a purchase.
Accepting Offers:
As sellers, we’re not always happy with the offers we receive, and I’m not asking you to accept all offers. But in many situations you need to keep in mind that a small profit from a satisfied customer can help you in the long term. If you add a 5 star rating, a good feed back and a loyal customer who buys from you again, that small profit is actually a big profit. Big companies pay big money to build and advertise their brand, so if you loose few bucks to a customer who helps others trust you with good feedback, you didn’t loose at all, you actually won big.
Promotion & Tools:
As I mentioned above, promote your item on Mercari App, it’s free, you just need to offer better prices to likers or to everyone. Don’t hesitate to use the new promotion feature in the App, it allows you to have 2 prices, the one in the listing and the one that customers can’t see that is the minimum you are willing to accept. This tool is powerful because it allows your listing to stay active by changing your price automatically and letting potential customers know about it.
Shipping on Mercari:
This is an other important customer service element that customers appreciate. Try to ship all items sold as soon as possible because customers want their items as soon as possible after purchase. Adding a note with your shipped item create a personal relationship with customers. It’s important to show customers that you appreciate them for choosing to purchase from your store instead of the competition.
Mercari Shipping Prices
Find Mercari shipping prices in the table below. Please use this table for information only as shipping prices can change anytime.
Mercari Shipping Label
The App will automatically send you an email with a printable shipping label once your item sells. The suggested shipping label is based on the item weight, packaging, and the size of the box.
Mercari will ask you to ship the item sold within 3 business days, but it’s better to ship sooner, because a happy customer means good feedback and possibly a loyal customers that will buy from your store again.
Websites like Mercari
There are several e-commerce companies that offer websites and apps to buy and sell online.
Websites that I tested and I’m still using to sell my merchandise are Ebay, Poshmark and Mercari.
Sign up To Mercari here using my link to get $10 credit (I will also get $10 credit).
Use my code ” SARADRETAIL” when you sign up to save $10 on your next purchase
With good and clear photos, keyword focused title, honest description, accurate brand and category, good pricing strategy, better communication with customers before and after purchase and smart use of Mercari App promotion tools, you should be able to make quick sales or increase your sales if you are an existing seller.
If you have a specific question, please leave a comment below for discussion. If you have a store on the Mercari App, include the name of your store in your comment. Let’s us all check it Out!
